TN 030: Moving a Dream Report Project to a New PC/Server

Owned by Admin
Dec 30, 2020
3 min read

When moving a Dream Report project from one machine to another, there are several points to check to ensure that the project will run properly on the new machine:

  1. First install the same version of the Dream Report software on the new machine.  If you will be upgrading to a newer version of the software, please make sure to also reference the following tech note: “Project Upgrade Procedure”

  2. The Dream Report project folder (and its subfolders) on the original machine need to be copied to the same location on the new node

  3. Any specific folder or path structures referenced in the project should exist on the new machine – in Dream Report Studio check both under Project Settings > Paths; and for each individual report, open the Report Settings > General, and check if a folder/path has been specified for the “Copy report files to folder:” option.

  4. Any network shares/mapped drives, and any networked printers that Dream Report references, should exist on the new machine. 

  5. Communication Drivers:  Open the Communication Configuration Wizard, make sure that all Data Sources are set up, according to the new location of the project (Server Names, IP-addresses, DSNs, OPC servers, etc.)

  6. Any Windows ODBC Data Source Names (DSN’s) created on the main Dream Report node should be manually created on the new machine.  Create the DSN’s using the Administrative Tools > ODBC Data Sources (32-bit) utility.  Or, on older Windows operating systems, open the 32-bit ODBC Data Sources utility from C:\Windows\SysWOW64\odbcad32.exe.  In either case, you must run utility with Administrator privileges

  7. Check the Dream Report project database configuration – Project > Database Definition.  If a database other than MS Access is being used, test the connection to the specified database, and make any changes to the database definition if needed.  Note: If the original Dream Report project was using a database local to that machine, you will need to manually backup that database, and restore it to the new Dream Report machine, to ensure that all logged data is moved over

  8. Under Tools > DSN Manager, if any database connections are defined, verify these, and make any changes to the DSN configuration(s) if necessary

  9. If Dream Report runs as a Windows Service, the Windows account under which the Dream Report RTM Reporting Runtime Service runs under should exist on the new machine

  10. Run “Configure IIS” (either from Dream Report Studio or from the Runtime Management Console) to ensure that the Dream Report web portal gets created on the new machine.  Make sure to first properly configure Internet Information Services (IIS) for your specific version of Windows – refer to the Dream Report User Manual, or the following tech note “Manual Configuration of IIS for use with Dream Report Web Portal”

  11. If any of the following 3 files have been manually edited on the original machine - DreamReport.ini, Ods.System.Config.xml or OdsLuaLib.lua – located in \ODS\Dream Report\System\, copy those file(s) to the same location on the new machine

  12. License – if an Ocean Data Systems-issued license (license.dat file, located in \ODS\Dream Report\license\) is being used, you will need a new license issued.  Please contact orders@dreamreport.com to request a new license.  If the Dream Report license was issued by an OEM partner like AVEVA/Wonderware or GE, please contact your local distributor for instructions on moving their license.